Zagreb History, Croatia

The city of Zagreb is very rich in terms of history and the major part of Croatian history has been part of Zagreb. It was as early as the 1st century when the historical Roman settlement namely Andautonia existed in this city. It was the year 1904 when the name Zagreb was first attached to this city. During this time the city used to exist under two different names namely western Gradec (the larger section) which was inhabited by merchants plus farmers and the eastern Kaptol (the smaller section) which was inhabited by the clergy. This smaller section was the location for Zagreb Cathedral.

It was the year 1851 when Kaptol and Gradec merged. The man responsible for this merger was ‘ban Josip Jelačić’. The major square of this city (namely Ban Jelačić Square) was named after this person. It was during the Yugoslavian rule when the city of Zagreb was the major contributor to the economy of Croatia. It was also the second largest city of Croatia and the only city above it in terms of population was Belgrade. After Yugoslavia was dissolved the city of Zagreb went on a path of success and slowly became the most developed city in south eastern Europe.

It was the 19th century when the city of Zagreb became the center for Croatian National Revival and this helped Zagreb become an important hub for various historical and cultural institutions of Croatia. In 1862 the city of Zagreb was gifted with its own railway line which connected this city to Sisak and Zidani Most. Later on, in 1863 the city of Zagreb received gasworks. By 1878, this city had its own waterworks and by 1891 the horse – drawn tamcar was part of this city’s local transport.

By 1907 an electric power plant was inaugurated. This city was gifted with huge construction works between 1880 and 1914 but the earthquake which hit the city during this time halted the development work for the coming years. Later on, after the 1950s construction work for new residential areas started all over again. The city soon started to expand eastwards and westwards with many residential areas popping up.